The Wood At Lost Corner
by Noritsu
Summary: Charlie runs into Pooh & Piglet in one of the wooded areas. The rest of the gang is skeptical. Charlie centric mostly. Other main characters also present. Not as strange as you might think. Story is finished.
1. Running, and Finding

**LOST **

**The Wood At Lost Corner **

Authoress: Noritsu

Disclaimer 

I **do not** own the LOST characters, or the LOST universe.

They are copyrighted and belong to Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Bad Robot, and ABC.

The storyline, however, is mine. So, no pilfering, please. Thanks!

**TUN** Publishing Company

April, 2007

**T**he**U**sual**N**onsense

**8/25/07:** Deleted the title page and placed it at the beginning of Chapter One. This way, the chapters of the fic match up with the numbered chapter slots of the site.

This is just a little LOST story I came up with…

Some mild cursing in this first chapter.

**Running, and Finding**

He was running.

He was running through the woods, then across the open hillside, over paths they'd traversed a hundred times since they'd crashed here. Paths well worn by now from endless footprints crushing the undergrowth into the soil beneath.

He felt worn himself.

And he was tired.

Tired of checking himself over every move he made. Tired of checking himself over how much time he spent with Claire.

Mostly, he was tired of Desmond.

If he had been in a better frame of mind right now, he might have been able to admit that it wasn't Desmond's fault that the universe wanted him dead. He might have even acknowledged that Desmond was just as not thrilled about being trapped in the role of guardian, as _he_ was not thrilled about being trapped in the role of victim-in-waiting.

But right now, he just wanted to get away.

Away from Claire. Mostly, away from Desmond.

Why?

Because once again, he'd apparently overstepped the limit of time that the universe would allow him to be with Claire without coming to any real harm.

And for what?

Just because he wanted to shimmy up the tree and get a piece of fruit for her.

And at the precise midway point up the tree, Desmond came careening around the bend, and started shouting that he needed to get down, and he needed to get down _now_.

Slowly, of course, so that he wouldn't offend the universe any more than it already was, and risk making it mad enough to send a wind gust flying his way to knock him off out of sheer spite.

When he got back onto the ground, Desmond began to admonish him.

"You need to be more careful, brother," he said. What're you goin' to do if I don't get to you on time someday? What's Claire gonna do?" There was a long pause as Desmond stared at him with a mixture of curiosity and remorse. "What am _I_ gonna do?" he said, more softly this time. "Your death will be on _my_ head. It will be _my_ fault. I'm the one who didna save you."

So that was it then. Desmond's need to save him from the universe wasn't necessarily based on his desire to see him keep on living. Rather, it was to protect himself from the guilty conscience that would be inflicted upon him should his self-appointed charge actually meet up with an untimely demise.

When the realization hit him was when he decided maybe he should save poor Desmond the trouble.

And so, he ran.

Desmond tried to catch his arm up when he went to take off, but he snarled at him to let him go. Claire yelled after him, but he didn't even care. He just wanted to get away from them.

He didn't even know where he was going. He'd run across these paths so many times, his brain was probably just picking his course on auto-pilot.

Through the tall grass he ran, tears streaming down his face. What kind of bloody existance was this? Living on the border between life and death. One foot in, one foot out. One misstep, and the outside foot joins the inside one. Permanently.

There were times when he could divest his brain of his precarious position. Times when his predicament left his mind altogether and he could actually enjoy himself for a few precious moments. That is, until Claire would say something like, "Well, I guess you should be going off to visit someone else now." And then it all came crashing back to him again.

Maybe he should just let the universe take him. Maybe he should just hike up to the cliff and jump off. If he _wasn't_ with Claire, and it was _his_ decision to 'off' himself, would Desmond still have one of his flashes? Would he still know to come and save him?

As the breath in his lungs began failing him in their attempt to sustain him during his mad, adrenaline powered charge toward his, as yet unknown, destination, so to, did his feet begin to fail him in their attempt to keep up with his desperate flight from harm. He was now in one of the forested areas, and he stumbled over tree roots, and through thick underbrush, and limbs thrashed at him as he moved.

He couldn't go on much longer. He knew this because of the pain that was beginning to hammer in his chest. His legs were starting to feel like lead, and his breathing was more akin to gasping now. He inevitably began to slow down, while, ironically, his brain finally started to kick in.

How far had he gone? Where was he exactly? Would he recognize this place once his lungs were appeased with fresh, steady doses of oxygen and he could take the time to study his surroundings? What the bloody hell had he been thinking? Why didn't he just run back to camp and throw himself in a sullen heap on the beach? At least then he'd be easier to find.

He imagined Desmond and Claire in a panic, having gone back to camp and discovering that he wasn't there. They'd route out Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Locke, Jin, Sun, possibly Sawyer, and anyone else they could convince that it mattered if he lived or died.

He finally tripped over another tree root, this time for good, and went down on the ground. He curled up in a fetal position for a while as he shoved the pressing questions from his mind and concentrated on slowing his breathing, and his heartrate, down to a more normal rhythym. He squeezed his eyes together and fought against the lightheadedness that gripped him. He felt as though he was spinning in a circle, even though he wasn't moving at all anymore.

The feeling left him finally, and he opened his eyes. His heart didn't hurt anymore, nor did his lungs. His legs still felt like lead, though. He probably should get up and try to walk it out a bit, as he tried to figure out where he was.

He uncurled himself, and rolled over onto his back. Looking up from the ground where he lay, the trees here looked pretty much like most of the other trees on the island. In other words, they looked like the kind of trees you'd find on a tropical island, in the middle of nowhere, that you had crashed onto when your plane went down. He rolled back over onto his side and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"Oh, bother."

Charlie started at the sound of words spoken. _What the…..?_

"Excuse me, sir," the voice said.

Charlie pulled his knees up under him and hunkered down in a kneeling position. He turned his head toward the sound of the voice.

"Oh…..my…..God….." he said.

"Could you possibly help me, sir? I seem to have lost a friend of mine who, you might say, is on the smallish side of being. And, he is rather of a pinkish sort of color."

Charlie's mind reeled at the sight of the small brown bear standing in front of him. It was like the stories his mother had read to him and his brother, in their boyhood, had come to life in front of his very eyes.

Usually one who was never at a loss for words, Charlie's brain tripped, and stuttered, over an endless assortment of them now, none of which seemed to properly suit his current situation.

"Pooh?" he finally asked.

"Why, yes," the little bear replied. Pooh's features seemed to lighten noticeably at the knowledge that this strange man kneeling in front of him actually knew who he was. "That is what I am called, by the people who know me, of course."

"Winnie…Winnie…..the Pooh?" Charlie asked again.

The little bear chuckled slightly. "You could also call me Pooh Bear if you like. That's what Christopher Robin calls me, too."

Charlie dropped his head and shook it in disbelief. Now the universe was just toying with him. Trying to drive the sanity from his mind, because it was tired of dealing with it's inability to kill him. He sighed. His head suddenly cleared and, almost the moment it did, two particular words leaped into the forefront of his thoughts which seemed to perfectly reflect how he was feeling right now.

"Bloody hell."

* * *

Hi.

Welcome to my LOST story. I'm new to this thread. I have two other fics posted in the Xiaolin Showdown thread.

This is just a little something I came up with after watching the episode where Desmond finally confessed to Charlie about the clairvoyant flashes he was having..

I should let you know that Juliet is not in this fic. I don't like Juliet. She's evil, and she shouldn't be anywhere near Jack. Only Kate should be near Jack.

Anyway, in this fic, Locke (who has always been one of my favorite characters) will be portrayed more closely to the way he was in the first two seasons instead of as the explosion and murder happy nutcase that the writers are turning him into.

As for Charlie, well, I've liked Dominic Monaghan ever since he played Merry in Lord of the Rings. So, I guess that's why this is centered mostly around him.

I really hope you enjoy what I have written. If you have, please push the button (but not every 108 minutes) and leave a review.

TTFN(TaTaForNow) Noritsu  
_what's a garden without guava?_


	2. Questions, and Answers

The disclaimer is listed in Chapter One. Please backtrack if you wish to view the disclaimer.

I totally forgot to include the fact that A.C. Milne & Disney own Pooh Bear & friends & universe. (Shame on me!)

**Questions, and Answers**

With his thoughts as his only companion, and form of distraction, Charlie trudged back through the forest, more tall grass, and another wooded area on his way back to the beach camp.

What on earth was he going to tell the others?

They would probably think he'd gone mad.

He tried to hedge the odds in his favor by questioning Pooh and Piglet as to whether or not they'd be willing to stay long enough for him to bring back a few friends he said he'd like for them to meet. He told them that he was sure they would all get along really great, and Pooh and Piglet seemed agreeable to the matter. There was quite a bit of daylight left and still a lot of exploring to do, and Pooh asked him if he knew whether any of the trees might have some tasty honey in them.

He had to confess that, actually, he hadn't a clue. But perhaps, some of his friends might when he brought them back.

He was just exiting the edge of the wood that abutted the rear of their beach camp when sudden shouting brought him out of his ponderings. He looked up to see not only Claire, and Desmond, but Jin, Sun, and Hurley running toward him.

"Are you trying to give us a heart attack, brother?" Desmond asked.

"I'm sorry I ran off." This was about all Charlie felt like saying to him at the moment.

"Charlie…..we were really worried about you."

Charlie turned to Claire and studied her face. She did look terribly worried, and he decided that he would apologize to her personally, and in private, a little later.

Jin said something to him in Korean, and Sun translated. "He wants to know if you're alright."

Charlie was silent for a moment. "Yeah, I'm fine." He paused. "Um, I saw something in the forest back there."

Hurley looked at him curiously. "Dude! Another monster?"

Charlie braced himself. "Um, no. Actually, I…." He stopped. Did he really want to do this? "I saw Winnie the Pooh." He stopped, and waited. His friends looked at him, and then they looked at each other, and then back at him again. "And Piglet," he finished.

"Um…..dude…" Hurley's voice trailed off.

Sun said something to Jin in their native language. He nodded, and Sun smiled politely at Charlie, and turned and left with her husband.

Charlie watched them go with a sense of dread. "So, where's Jack?" he asked as casually as he could.

An uncomfortable silence passed between the group and then Claire finally said, "Jack said we should wait and give you some time to come back on your own. They were just getting ready to leave to go look for you. Probably Sun went to tell them you're back."

Charlie inclined his head in understanding, but couldn't think of anything else to say. Hurley and Claire walked off to the side, leaving him alone with Desmond.

"Look, Charlie, about what I said back there – "

"It's alright," Charlie said, cutting him off.

"No, it's not alright," Desmond said. "You don't understand. I don't care what _they_ think," he said, gesturing behind him at their fellow survivors in general. "It's me, Charlie. It's me." His voice dropped into a softer tone again as he continued. "I couldn't live with myself if…..if….." he trailed off as though he couldn't bear to hear himself speak the rest of the sentence.

"If you failed," Charlie finished for him.

"Yeah." He sighed. "It's my fault your plane crashed, too."

Charlie diverted his gaze down to the sandy grains, mixed with the dirt, on which they stood. So, not only had he been wrong about Desmond's feelings over playing guardian, it seemed the man also harbored some lingering guilt over having brought down their plane in the first place.

Charlie suddenly smiled and extended his hand. "No hard feelings," he said.

Desmond met the smile with one of his own and took the offered hand. "No hard feelings," he said, the relief evident on his face.

Charlie saw movement over Desmond's shoulder and redirected his line of sight. Sun and Jin were heading back toward him with Jack, Kate, Locke, Sayid, and Sawyer in tow. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to regard the ocean's tide as it crashed onto the shoreline.

"Charlie?"

That was Jack's voice.

Charlie turned back toward the owner. Jack was standing next to him with Kate. The others were just off to the side, and slightly behind where they stood. Jack was studying him in a way that suggested to him that his leader thought something significant might have happened to him to bring on a sudden bout of hallucinations.

"So, Desmond and Claire told us about what happened," Jack said.

Charlie decided to humor Jack's attempt at keeping the conversation casual. "Yeah…I was kind of upset. I…sort of felt fed up with it and all, and took off without thinking."

Jack nodded his head. "Uh-huh. So…you were gone for a while there. You didn't come across any sort of trouble, did you?'

"No."

Jack shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant sort of way. "You didn't hurt yourself, maybe?"

Charlie closed his eyes, and felt a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He could probably go on like this for a while yet but, suddenly, he didn't feel like it.

He opened his eyes back up. "I saw Winnie the Pooh," he said abruptly.

Jack carefully kept his face as neutral as his response. "Uh-huh."

"And Piglet," Hurley said.

Everyone turned to look at Hurley, who shrugged. "He said he saw Piglet."

"Um, Charlie, you didn't answer my last question."

Charlie met Jack's gaze and tried not to flinch underneath it. Jack was like this, though, always pressing. You'd think he'd be used to it by now.

"I tripped over a tree root and fell," he said.

Immediately, Jack's eyes flicked upwards to look at his head.

"Look," Charlie began, "I fell, okay? But, I didn't crack my head open, and I wasn't knocked out." The decibel level of his voice dropped a bit. "And then I bloody saw Winnie the Pooh, and Piglet."

Kate reached out and touched his arm gently. "We're not questioning that you saw something, Charlie. We're just trying to figure out what might have caused it."

Sawyer choose this moment to walk forward a few steps so he could put his two cents in. "Don't forget to ask him if he was diggin' in his stash."

"There is no bloody stash!" Charlie yelled. He'd had quite enough of this now. This wasn't the first time that something strange and unexplained had happened. But, just because it was _him_, they were doubtful.

"Look," he said, talking to Jack, but pointing his finger at Sawyer, "he shoots a polar bear. She," he said, pointing to Kate, "sees a black stallion. And Eko was killed by a monster that's made up of black smoke. Is it really so hard to believe that I've seen a couple of cartoon characters?"

Locke took a measured breath and let it out. "He's got a point there, Jack."

Jack's face worked for a moment to fight off a look of annoyance. He turned on Locke. "The things we've seen so far have been strange, but real. A polar bear is real. A horse is real. Smoke is even real. And before you say anything, yes it's strange that it's capable of killing people."

"I know what I saw," Charlie said.

"I believe him."

Everyone turned in tandem to look at Desmond. "I do," he said. "I don't think he's sick, or injured. If he says he saw Pooh, and Piglet, then I believe him."

Locke stepped forward to engage Charlie. "Can you take us to them?" he asked.

"Yes. I asked if they could stay put because I wanted to bring some friends back to meet them."

"Well, then," Locke said, looking at Jack, "there you go." He walked over to stand next to Desmond. "Are we going to stand here all day, or are we going to go back in the woods?"

Jack stared at Locke for a moment longer and then turned around to Sayid. They said not a word, but an indecipherable look passed between them. Finally, Sayid shrugged his shoulders and a 'why not?' kind of expression crossed his face.

Jack turned back around to Charlie. He put his hands on his hips and straightened himself up to his full height. "Okay, Charlie. You're sure you can find your way back there?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Then let's do it."

* * *

Yay! I got the second chappie posted.

Thank you for the kind reviews! Glad you like the story so far.

I'd like to thank SassyLostie for her weirdness factor comment. It got me to thinking, so I added an extra line in the story summary. Hopefully, some more LOST fans will take the time to come in here and have a peek.

The next chappie will still be concentrating on the LOSTies. We won't get back to Pooh & crew until Ch. 4, which is also the last one.

If you like the story, but you haven't posted a review yet, please do so. The Others will not pester you over it. Really!

TTFN(TaTaForNow) Noritsu  
_what's a garden without guava?_


	3. Gathering, and Departing

The disclaimer is listed in Chapter One. Please backtrack if you wish to view the disclaimer.

Pooh Bear & friends, & universe are owned by A.A. Milne & Disney.

This chapter edited on 6/15/07 to change 'mom' to 'mum'; and 'Ian' to 'Liam'.

**Gathering, and Departing**

Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, and the others, headed back into the camp to gather up the provisions for the trek back into the woods. Desmond, Hurley, and Claire insisted they were coming along, and Sun decided to invite herself and Jin also.

Jack made the rounds to let their fellow survivors know that they were leaving, while Locke trailed behind and quietly clued some of them in to the goings on, and encouraged them to spread the word. He didn't think that they should be left out of this because this was the first time they had encountered something familiar that reminded them of home. Of course, it didn't occur to him that he shouldn't have left Jack out of his decision to tell the rest about the situation.

The whole camp was soon buzzing about the news, and Charlie retreated to the edge of the wood and watched quietly as the group swarmed around Jack and, it looked to him, all began talking at once. At this distance, he couldn't hear clearly what any of them were saying, and he sincerely hoped that Jack was trying to talk them out of coming along.

He was beginning to question the wisdom of having told them what he had seen. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if Jack wasn't right. What if it _had_ all been a hallucination? Maybe this morning's incident had stressed his mind to the point that it felt it had to conjure up an image for him to look at that was safe so he wouldn't fall into some dark emotional hole. If it turned out that Pooh and Piglet weren't in the forest when they went back, that would just give them something else they could talk about behind his back.

His thoughts turned inward, and memories of himself as a young boy rose up to skim the surface. He thought of his mum reading to him when she put him in bed at night. His Pooh book was one that he asked for often, but there were a few others too, that he favored. Why had the island singled out this particular one? He'd probably never know the answer to that.

Memories of home and family stirred up other, more recent, memories, and he found himself idly wondering if Liam even gave a crap that his plane had gone down, and he'd been missing for the last two and a half months.

While Charlie was preoccupied with his reminiscent pursuits, Hurley and Desmond stood off to the side and tried not to draw attention to the fact that they were keeping an eye on him. He seemed to be withdrawn, which was not an adjective they would have ever picked to describe his personality, and it worried them.

A furious wave of shouting rose up, and the two turned and watched as Jack threw his hands up in the air in an attempt to get the rest of the camp's residents to quiet down. Sayid shouldered his way in, pushing Locke out of the way, so he could get to Jack. Words were exchanged, and then Sayid too, began speaking, and motioning for them to stop. When they finally did, he began talking, and Jack extricated himself from the crowd, and walked over to talk to Sun, Jin, and Claire.

Whatever he was saying to them, they seemed to be in agreement with. He broke away from the trio and made a beeline for where Hurley, Desmond, and Charlie were standing.

"Hey, Desmond," he said as he walked past. "Hurley."

Jack walked over to stand next to Charlie. "Charlie"

Charlie didn't answer him right away, and so he said the name again. "Charlie."

Still no response.

Jack stepped in front of him, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him gently, but firmly. "Charlie!"

Charlie gasped and snapped out of his trip down memory lane. He was startled enough that he almost lost his grip on his water bottle.

Jack stared intently at him. His brown eyes poured over every line on Charlie's face, trying to decipher if his expression was an indication that something more was going on with him than just the story Desmond and Claire had told him earlier. For the first time since he'd gotten back from being captured, he felt like he'd been away for far too long. He'd fallen out of stride with his leadership position, and now, with whatever was going on with Charlie, was as good a time as any to get back in step.

Charlie shook his head as if he was trying to shake some leftover cobwebs away. "Um…..I'm okay, really. I…..I just got lost in some thoughts. Literally, I guess."

Jack nodded his head. "Okay, alright." He could accept this explanation, at least for now, anyway.

Desmond and Hurley walked up to join them so they could hear what he was going to say.

"Okay, here's what's going to happen. Sayid is telling them that they need to stay here because we have no way of knowing if we're walking into a trap. For all we know this is some kind of holographic trick to lure us away from the camp. When we get back to the woods that you saw the characters in, and if the characters are still there, then we're going to do a perimeter check. If everything looks okay Sun, Jin, and Claire will come back here to get everyone else and bring them back."

Everyone was silent for a moment as they looked for a reaction from Charlie. He seemed to be taking his sweet time working through what Jack had just said when he suddenly spoke.

"It's not a holographic trick."

"With the light coming down from above, and the underbrush covering the forest floor, you couldn't see the holographic emitters – "

"No," Charlie said, shaking his head, and cutting Jack off, "it's not holography. When Pooh first spoke to me, he said he was looking for Piglet. After I recovered from the shock, we went looking for him. He wasn't that far away actually, and when we found him…I picked him up." He stopped talking, and looked pointedly at Jack as if he wanted to make sure that what he'd just said had sunk in. "I picked him up, and he felt as solid to me as you do."

Jack took a couple of steps back, and started rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was great. This was just great. This was not what he'd been expecting to hear. It totally blew his theory out of the water. If Locke got ahold of this….

"Don't breathe a word of what you've just said to anyone," he said. "I'll have to tell Sayid…but, that's it."

"Soooooooo, this is gonna be some party, ain't?"

At the sound of Sawyer's voice, the conversation immediately ground to a halt. He came sauntering over to stand with them, a golf club lying against his shoulder.

Hurley looked at him curiously. "Dude, what's the golf club for?"

Sawyer smiled back at him. "This, my circular friend," he said, brandishing the club in Hurley's direction, "is a Woozle stick."

Hurley looked at him as though he thought Sawyer had finally lost his mind. "A Woozle stick?"

"Yep. We run into any Woozles, or Jagulars, I'm gonna beat 'em back with this." He poked the club at Jack. "Unlike the good doctor here, and the nice Iraqi, who have amassed enough ammo over there to take down a pack o' Heffalumps." He smiled politely, and watched for an expression change on Jack's face to see if he'd succeeded in annoying with him his remark. "I don't wanna kill any of 'em. I just wanna put the fear o' Sawyer in 'em."

"Uh, huh," Charlie said, "Right. A golf club. Yeah, that oughta do the trick."

Sawyer turned his smile on Charlie. "So, Rocky, you should thank the doc, here, and Sayid for keeping the rest of them at bay. That way, you won't end up lookin' bad in front of any more than the usual crowd."

Charlie opened his mouth to say something, but Desmond inadvertantly cut him off. "Back off, Sawyer. He's been through enough today."

Sawyer snorted at that. "What? You his keeper, or somethin'?"

Jack stepped forward, and planted his foot in between the two men. He put his arm across Sawyer's chest, got a firm grip on his opposite shoulder, and began pulling him away from Desmond. "C'mon, Sawyer, let's go."

"Hey, I'm havin' a dialogue here!"

Jack gave him a stern look. "We need to go _now_, Sawyer, and gather everybody and the supplies so we can leave."

"And you wanna include _me_ in that?"

Sawyer disentangled himself from Jack's grip and followed after him. "Well, shucks, I didn't know you thought so highly of me, doc."

After a few minutes more, the chosen group met up with Charlie at the rear of the camp. Jack walked over to stand next to him.

"It's all yours, Charlie," he said. "Lead the way."

Charlie nodded his head, and sighed. He couldn't bear to look back and make eye contact with any of the others. As he walked forward to begin the trek back to the wood, he fervently prayed that the island would be kind to him, and allow Pooh and Piglet to still be there.

* * *

I was just checking my stats for this story. I have over 150 hits for this story, but only 7 reviews. I really like the 7 reviews I have (Yay!), and I thank you very much for them. Thanks for the continued support for my story. Now, don't the rest of you 150 folks want to leave a review, too? Of course, you do! Just click the little button thingey.

As a side note, I have to mention that for some reason, I thought it would be hysterical if Sawyer would think far enough ahead to bring along a Woozle stick…

TTFN, Nori  
_what's a garden without guava?_


	4. Seeing Is Believing

The disclaimer is listed in Chapter One. Please backtrack if you wish to view the disclaimer.

Pooh Bear & friends, & universe are owned by A.A. Milne & Disney.

Yay! The final chappie!

**Seeing Is Believing**

Charlie stopped at the edge of the forest, and fought against the urge to turn and run. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and then continued forward.

There was no sign of Pooh, or Piglet as they entered into the forest. Jack told him that he should go as far as the tree root he tripped over, and they'd stop there and decide what to do next.

Into the wood they trudged, looking around them as they went, straining their ears for any kind of sound that might alert them to the presence of the characters.

"Well, this is it," Charlie said, pointing down at a large tree root protruding from the ground. "I laid there for at least a good ten minutes, maybe more."

He walked past the tree root a little further, and pointed again. "There," he said. "See where the trees thin out to that clearing there. That's where we found Piglet. He wasn't that far away."

Jack nodded. "Okay, let's head over that way."

They walked about another hundred yards or so, and stopped at the front edge of the clearing. Charlie walked a little way into it and stopped. There was nothing here. Nothing, and no one. What was the point of going any further? He felt his heart drop into his stomach.

Jack put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Sorry."

Charlie shook his head. "It's all right. I should have known that I'd be wrong."

Hurley came walking past the two and stopped a ways beyond them. "Um, dude, isn't there, like, a stream, or something, past this? Like, there's an embankment, or something, that leads down?"

Charlie took a deep breath and was on the verge of saying 'Why bother?' when Desmond strolled past the lot of them saying, "Well, we've come this far. Might as well go the rest of the way."

Charlie looked at Jack, who put his hands up in the air in a questioning sort of way, and Charlie said, "Fine, whatever."

He followed after them reluctantly, knowing full well what they were trying to do. It was a last ditch effort to keep him from looking like a fool on the pretense that the two might be at the stream playing Poohsticks. But when they got to the stream, there would be no Pooh, no Piglet, and no Poohsticks. To his way of thinking, they were just prolonging the amount of time it would take to reach the conclusion he already knew was coming.

He walked along, staring at the ground mostly, and Hurley's shoes as they went before him. Consequently, he didn't realize they'd reached the sloped edge of the embankment until after he'd smacked into Hurley's back when he stopped.

He mumbled an apology, walked around Hurley, and looked down the bank at the stream. His eyes followed the flow of it, down to a slight bend where it broadened out just a bit. It was there that his eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. The feeling of dread that had been following him ever since he opened his mouth back at camp suddenly vanished.

For standing at the edge of the stream, just before the bend, were not only Pooh and Piglet, but Rabbit, Tigger, Eeyore, and Roo.

Ever so slowly, as the realization of what he was seeing sank in, a smile spread it's way across his face. "I – I – " He glanced over at Hurley, who was also smiling from ear to ear, and was suddenly seized with the feeling that a smile just didn't convey the emotion he was experiencing right now. He grabbed the big guy and gave him a exuberant hug. Hurley hugged him back. "I'm not crazy!" he shouted. "I'm not! I'm not crazy!"

Desmond began laughing good naturedly. "No Charlie, you're not crazy."

Most of the rest of the group were soon caught up in Charlie's good fortune, and mood, and were laughing, and pointing, and talking about how they ought to proceed.

The noise rang across the forest, in the immediate area of where they stood, and drifted merrily down the embankment to the storybook characters at the stream below. A certain yellow rabbit heard the commotion first. He perked his long ears up, further than they usually stood, and listened intently just to make sure. When he was, in fact, sure, he turned around to face the perceived direction that the noise was coming from.

Immediately he clapped his hands to his face, and gasped fearfully at what he saw. "Strange humans!" he exclaimed.

This got the attention of his friends, who gathered around him and looked also in the same direction.

"Oh, Rabbit," Pooh said, chuckling slightly, "those aren't strange humans. Those are just Charlie's humans."

Rabbit wrung his hands in indecision. "Well, I don't know, Pooh. I mean, well, I suppose…."

"Oh, Pooh's right," Piglet chimed in. "Charlie's not at all one of the Fiercer Humans. He helped Pooh find me. He's a rather nice sort."

"Of course he is," Eeyore said. "That's what he wants you to think. That's how they are. Then, when your back is turned, they run off with your sticks. Then, you turn around and see your sticks are gone. Then, you're sad because you can't play anymore. Mark my words. Of course, you won't. But still, there it is."

"Now, Eeyore, that's nonsense," Rabbit responded. "Obviously if he's not the sort to go around hurting Very Small Animals, then surely he must be alright." He turned back to Pooh. "Now, Pooh, which one is Charlie?"

"Why, he's the one coming toward us," Pooh said, pointing at Charlie, who was, indeed, coming toward them.

Tigger stepped forward, and made a show of clearing his throat. "Leave the greetin' to me!" he said, pointing to himself. "Greetin's what Tiggers do best!"

"No, Tigger!" Rabbit exclaimed, throwing his paws up. "No bouncing! Of any kind!" he shouted.

"But – " Tigger started to say.

"No 'buts', either!" Rabbit said scoldingly.

Tigger sniffled and looked very sad, but remained where he was, and didn't say anything more.

Back at the top of the embankment, Jack stood, with Sayid, and watched thoughtfully, as Charlie and the rest of the group made their way toward the so-very-real-looking characters that were standing near the stream.

"So, what do you think?" he asked.

Sayid shook his head. "I honestly don't know what to think, Jack," he replied. "I do not believe we are looking at some sort of advanced robotics. And it's definitely not holography. Holographs cannot move freely from area to area."

"Then what?" Jack asked, more into the air, than to Sayid.

Sayid was quiet for a moment as he pondered Jack's question. "You're probably not going to like me saying this," he started, and Jack braced himself. "I am probably not the most religious man among my people," he continued. "But, even I believe that when reasoning, and logic fail, you must rely on faith as the explanation why."

"You sound like Locke," Jack said.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

Jack and Sayid turned toward the sound of Locke's voice. They were so intent on watching Charlie, who was unscrewing the cap off the bottle of Dharma honey that Locke had given him so he could offer it to Pooh, that it didn't even register that Locke had come back to join them.

"You know there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why this is happening," he said.

Jack arched an eyebrow. "Reasonable?" he asked.

Locke smiled. "It was meant to be, Jack."

Jack sighed, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Somehow, the island pulled these images from Charlie's mind, and brought them to life, to offer him some respite from his troubles, if only for a little while." Locke paused as something else occurred to him. "And because we happen to know Charlie, we get to be included in the benefit that will be reaped from this little scenario."

"And what benefit would that be?" Jack asked.

"Relief from our own, almost daily, troubles with The Others," Locke said. "We've been through an awful lot since we've crashed here. You and Charlie more than most, lately. It seems to me that this…..diversion, if you will, should be welcomed, not scoffed at. You _are_ a doctor, Jack. Don't you think this'll do wonders for our blood pressure?"

Jack didn't get a chance to answer Locke's question because Claire, Sun, and Jin came running up just then.

"Oh, Jack!" Claire exclaimed, We're going back now to get the rest! I can't wait! Aaron will just love this!"

"Uh, I didn't – "

"Jack," Sayid said, interrupting him, "my gut instinct is telling me that we are in no danger here. I neither saw, nor heard anything that would suggest we cannot spend some time here."

"Oh come on, Jack, _please_," Claire said. "You wouldn't want to keep Aaron from getting to know the Pooh characters would you?" She put on her best pout then, and waited for his answer.

Jack sighed again, and this time he _did_ roll his eyes. "Fine, whatever, go."

"Oh thank you!" She threw her arms around him and gave him a quick hug. Then she grabbed Sun's hand and ran off, dragging the other woman after her. Jin watched them a moment, and then looked back at the trio. He threw his hands up in a 'I really don't get this' way, and walked off after them. Sayid smiled and gave him a friendly clap on the shoulder as he left.

Jack reluctantly followed Locke as he went back to rejoin the group, while Sayid stayed behind as the lookout for when the rest of their fellow survivors returned. Pooh had finished his honey by now, and Piglet was very happy that Charlie had given him the protective seal under the cap to lick off.

Charlie introduced everyone, and then a discussion began as to what they thought they should do for the rest of the afternoon, seeing as how they still had a few hours of daylight left.

It was eventually decided that they would go looking for the East Pole. Then, after they found it, or, even if they didn't, they would turn around and go the other way, and look for the West Pole. After the Pole searching was over, they would come back to the stream to play more Poohsticks, and then, if there was any time left, they might have a bouncing contest to see who could bounce the highest. The contestants, unfortunately, were whittled down to just Tigger, and Roo, since Rabbit flatly refused to have anything to do with it.

Little by little, Jack found himself being pulled into interacting with the characters, until he finally came to a place in his mind where he decided that he might as well just go with the flow and stop asking himself any more questions about it.

Locke begged out of the Pole searching for the time being and went to look for Owl. This was only after he pulled Charlie to the side, and asked him if he could make a point of thinking to himself that it would be great if Owl were here. Sure enough, after some time had passed, Owl flew into view and perched on a branch not far from where Locke was currently looking. He engaged Owl in conversation, in which Owl used Many Long and Unusual Words and was very happy that Locke seemed to understand what he was saying.

Claire, Sun, and Jin finally returned with the rest of their group, and two well packed backpacks full of food.

Aaron was introduced to the characters, and Piglet was beside himself with delight at meeting someone who was just as small as he was. His delight ended rather quickly at the exact moment that Aaron reached out to grab Piglet's ear, and began pulling on it.

The forest seemed to become more and more a place of enchantment, perhaps not exactly the Hundred Acre Wood, but still, a welcome refuge, where they could shake off their troubles, and struggles, and find some enjoyment in the company of some storybook characters which had, by some miracle, come to life.

Charlie took a time out for himself from the Search For The West Pole, and walked over to a tree wrapped in a glorious cloth of fragrant vined flowers. He stared at the flowers, so vibrantly colored, and seemingly full of life, and plucked one. He turned around and watched everyone laughing, and joking, and eating. Everyone was being gracious with taking turns interacting with the characters, and they all seemed, at this moment in time, to be full of more life, and joy, than he remembered seeing them in a very long time.

And he was the one responsible for it.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, his logic sense reminded him that he may, or may not, live to see the end of the week. But for now, this was his sanctuary, for the few hours they had left, and he was more than glad that he was able to share it with the rest of their group.

Charlie smiled as he saw Claire bouncing Aaron up and down next to Roo as she held him. He took another sniff of the flower he held and, for the first time since he crashed onto this wretched island, his heart soared.

finis

* * *

Thus endeth my little LOST story.

I really hope you enjoyed it. I would like to say up front that I hope no one is too terribly disappointed because I didn't include as much Pooh & friends as you might have liked. You can probably imagine that this chappie was a killer to write. I found myself constantly fighting against myself to **not** turn it into a Pooh & friends chapter. I kept reminding myself that this **is** supposed to be a LOST fic, and I needed to keep it from the LOSTies point of view.

If you are thinking that I threw that little Jack/Claire moment in there on purpose because we now know they are bro/sis, you are correct!

About the Liam thing. Yeah, about that….. You know, it didn't occur to me, for whatever reason, that I should go to the Episode Guide section of the website, and backtrack, and read the synopsis of that episode to make sure that I had his name right. I was trying to remember what Charlie called him and I honestly thought he called him Ian. Ian/Liam, they do sound kind of similar don't they, with the 'ia' sound? Oh, well, live and learn… Hey! At least I got a few more reviews! And yes, nottheslayer, somewhere in my brain, I also know that the British refer to their mothers as mum. Why I didn't catch this when I was rereading and editing the chap is anybody's guess. (Including mine!)

Fortunately, in spite of the slip-ups, you all seem to enjoy the story. So again, I really hope you like the conclusion as well.

TTFN Nori  
_what's a garden without guava?_


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